All posts tagged: carlsen

When a teenage Magnus Carlsen skipped the Candidates and wrote an open letter to FIDE chief with suggestions for changes | Chess News

When a teenage Magnus Carlsen skipped the Candidates and wrote an open letter to FIDE chief with suggestions for changes | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readUpdated: Mar 19, 2026 10:23 PM IST In about 10 days’ time, the Candidates tournament, the second-most chess tournament in the world, will take centrestage in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The current edition will see 16 of the top players in the world compete in the twin Candidates events, side by side, with the eight men hoping to secure a world championship fight against D Gukesh while the eight women are jockeying to secure a women’s world championship clash with Ju Wenjun. There is a bit of a cloud over the Candidates this year, thanks to the war raging in the Middle East with Israel and the USA fighting Iran, and the latter responding by attacking its Middle Eastern neighbours like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. An attack on a British air force base on the island of Cyprus has also led to Koneru Humpy talking about boycotting the event. This would not be the first time the Candidates sees a high-profile player withdraw from the event. The world might remember Magnus Carlsen’s …

‘The truth is upon us’: Hans Niemann says after Netflix reveals premiere date for Carlsen cheating scandal documentary | Chess News

‘The truth is upon us’: Hans Niemann says after Netflix reveals premiere date for Carlsen cheating scandal documentary | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readFeb 25, 2026 08:17 PM IST The Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann cheating scandal is rearing its head again. This time, in the form of a documentary. Netflix has revealed that after nearly two years of following both players in the middle of the controversy the documentary will be releasing on April 7, with a trailer coming out on March 10. The documentary on the cheating scandal that rocked the sport and created global headlines will be part of the “Untold” series. Called “Untold: Chess Mates” the documentary will focus on Niemann picking up the pieces after Carlsen’s high-profile allegations of cheating levelled against him at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Carlsen had withdrawn from the tournament after a defeat to Niemann and then later levelled allegations against the American grandmaster, which had led to a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen and others. The documentary focuses on a rematch that Carlsen and Niemann have months after the allegations. Both Carlsen and Niemann have been interviewed for the documentary while the Netflix crew has followed …

In Freestyle Chess World Championship, Magnus Carlsen has found a stage that excites him | Chess News

In Freestyle Chess World Championship, Magnus Carlsen has found a stage that excites him | Chess News

Published by Webster

6 min readFeb 17, 2026 01:11 PM IST Magnus Carlsen did not look happy. As he sat on an elevated stage for a press conference right before the start of the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship on Friday, flanked on one side by German grandmaster Vincent Keymer and FIDE technical delegate Pavel Tregubov on another side, the world no 1 snuck a conspicuous glance at his watch, a universal signal that his time was being frittered away by this press conference. There are many things in the sport that test the patience of the Norwegian, but, in theory, this should not have been one of them. After all, it was an opportunity for Carlsen to speak about the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, an event he had a massive role in shaping from its early days. He’s spoken—repeatedly—about the freestyle chess variant being the future of the sport. More than once, his inputs have even led to the format of the event changing. But on Friday, Carlsen did not want to be the face, the …

Magnus Carlsen claims 21st world championship title after pulling rabbit out of hat in game 3 of final vs Fabiano Caruana | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen claims 21st world championship title after pulling rabbit out of hat in game 3 of final vs Fabiano Caruana | Chess News

Published by Webster

On a dramatic day in the seaside German town of Weissenhaus, Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship—his 21st World Championship title—after defeating Fabiano Caruana in a four-game finale late on Sunday. Carlsen has five classical World Championships besides six World Rapid Championships and nine World Blitz Championships. Now Carlsen adds a world title in the one format that was missing. “It’s certainly not one of my most convincing wins today,” Carlsen told the YouTube channel of Freestyle Chess after winning the title. “… but it feels great to win on a bit of an off-day. I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t bring the level that I showed yesterday. It feels great to win but I can do even better.” Caruana, chasing his first ever World Championship crown in any format, had winning positions in three of the four rapid games in the final against Carlsen, but could convert none. The third game between the pair was particularly chastening for the American grandmaster. For, it was there that he held a winning …

Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen but misses semifinals

Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen but misses semifinals

Published by Webster

GM Arjun Erigaisi faced a group stage exit at the maiden FIDE Fresstyle Chess World Championship at Schloss Weissenhaus in Wangels, Germany, on Friday. Arjun finished the tournament with 3 points from 7 games in a round-robin format, with 3 wins and 4 defeats, finishing 6th and missing out on the top four by a single point. The Indian, however, showed some good results at the tournament, defeating the leader, Magnus Carlsen and then a brilliant queen sacrifice to defeat Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov. He started his day with a good win over Germany’s top grandmaster, Vincent Keymer, in the first game, but then faced two consecutive defeats to Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and Hans Niemann (USA). He then had a topsy-turvy run afterwards with two big wins and two defeats against the top American GMs, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian. His biggest win of the day was against Magnus in round-6, where he attained a mate-in-10 position, handing the Norwegian legend his first and only defeat in the group stage. Final round-robin standings at FIDE Freestyle …

‘A horror nightmare’: How Arjun Erigaisi’s ‘pawn war’ crushed Magnus Carlsen in a wild Freestyle World Championship upset | Chess News

‘A horror nightmare’: How Arjun Erigaisi’s ‘pawn war’ crushed Magnus Carlsen in a wild Freestyle World Championship upset | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readFeb 14, 2026 06:00 AM IST Less than two months after Magnus Carlsen had gone viral again for smashing his fist on the table at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship for losing to Arjun Erigaisi, the world no 1 lost to the Indian again: this time in a classification game at the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus on Friday. While Arjun Erigaisi did not make it to the semi-finals of the Freestyle World Championships 2026, he had one of the wildest days in the qualification rounds where he remained the only player to not have a single draw in the seven rounds that were played on Friday to determine the four semi-finalists. Arjun took down the top two finishers in the league stage — Carlsen and Vincent Keymer — besides also defeating Javokhir Sindarov. He lost the remaining four games to end in sixth place. Carlsen, Keymer, Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov qualified for the semi-finals. The win over Carlsen, who has proven to be an unstoppable force in …

Magnus Carlsen at a World Championship: Everything you need to know about first official Freestyle Chess World Championship | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen at a World Championship: Everything you need to know about first official Freestyle Chess World Championship | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readFeb 13, 2026 12:13 AM IST Over the next three days, at a luxury resort in Germany’s Weissenhaus, eight of the world’s top grandmasters will fight it out to win the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, thus becoming the Freestyle World Champion. Before the event starts, here’s everything you need to know about the event: The title: The FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. It’s a new world championship, born out of a partnership between the global governing body of chess, FIDE, and the Freestyle Chess organisers, who conducted the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour last season. While officially it will be the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship, FIDE had organised a world championship in the Chess960 format (as the freestyle format is also known) twice before. Back then, it was known as the Fischer Random World Championship, with Wesley So winning the title in 2019 and Hikaru Nakamura claiming the crown in 2022 The contenders this time: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov, Hans Niemann and Nodirbek …

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readFeb 12, 2026 10:12 PM IST Arjun Erigaisi did not make the cut for the Candidates tournament that will be held in a couple of months to handpick a challenger to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. It was a significant setback for one of the most exciting stars of Indian chess, who will have to wait two more years for his next shot at becoming the classical world champion. But Arjun could end up becoming a world champion by the end of this week. The Freestyle World Champion, that is. Arjun is the only Indian grandmaster to qualify for the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship that will be held in Germany’s Weissenhaus from Friday to Sunday. Standing in Arjun’s path will be players like Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov, Hans Niemann and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After ending 2024 with twin bronze medals at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, Arjun has had a difficult start to 2025. He came close to winning both the Rapid and Blitz …

Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen again at Norway Chess, a year after viral table smash | Chess News

Gukesh vs Magnus Carlsen again at Norway Chess, a year after viral table smash | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readFeb 3, 2026 04:54 PM IST A year after the world got THAT viral moment of Magnus Carlsen smashing his fist on the table after blundering and losing to Gukesh Dommaraju, the duo will clash again at Norway Chess this year. The teenage world champion was announced as the fourth participant of the Norway Chess 2026 field on Tuesday by the organisers of the event. Last year, Gukesh had managed to get his first win in classical chess over Carlsen at Norway Chess, in what is the world no 1’s home tournament and one of the rare classical events he competes in each year. Despite losing to Gukesh and speaking of thinking about giving up playing in classical chess after that defeat, Carlsen had managed to win the Norway Chess title, with Gukesh in the running for the title till the final round. OH MY GOD 😳🤯😲 pic.twitter.com/QSbbrvQFkE — Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) June 1, 2025 “I am really happy to take part in Norway Chess again, fighting against a very strong field as …

Magnus Carlsen checkmated by 2200-rated player; can you find move that made world no 1 applaud | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen checkmated by 2200-rated player; can you find move that made world no 1 applaud | Chess News

Published by Webster

It’s not everyday that Magnus Carlsen loses an online game by getting checkmated. And it’s definitely not everyday that the game ends in such dazzling fashion that even Carlsen applauds his opponent. But that’s precisely what happened in a recent Titled Tuesday game when the world no 1 was beaten by an untitled American player, Jacorey Bynum, who holds a classical rating of 2175 as per FIDE’s published ratings. Carlsen was playing a five-minute blitz game against Bynum on Tuesday in round 1 of Titled Tuesday, which is an online event organised by Chess.com. Before we get to the move that made Carlsen applaud, here’s a test to see if you can find the move. The ill-advised move from Magnus Carlsen just before his opponent, Jacorey Bynum, moved in for the kill with a piece sacrifice. (screengrab via Chess.com) This is what the board looked like after the Norwegian, playing with black pieces, played bishop to d4 (34…Bd4). What do you think Bynum played here? Here’s a little hint: Bynum offered a sacrifice that the …